The Moderating Effects of Coping Strategies on the Relationship Between Family Conflicts and Depression Among Korean American Adolescents

Background/Purpose: Cross-cultural research on Asian American families provides evidence of high levels of intergenerational conflict between immigrant parents and their children (Ahn, Kim, & Park, 2008; Chung, 2001), and shows that such family conflict is associated with emotional and adjustment difficulties for adolescents (Gil, Vega, & Dimas, 1994; Rumbaut, 1994). Similarly, exposure to inter-parental conflict and violence can have a detrimental impact on children’s emotional and behavioral adjustment (Chung, Flook, & Fuligni, 2009). Adolescents exposed to marital conflict exhibit significantly higher levels of psychopathology (Gerard et al., 2006; Harold & Conger, 1997). Given the adverse impact of family conflict on adolescent mental health, this study examined four types of coping styles to determine whether they buffer or exacerbate depression among Korean American adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to examine: 1) demographic and psychosocial factors related to depression among Korean American adolescents from immigrant families; 2) whether problem-focused engagement, emotion-focused engagement, problem-focused disengagement and emotion-focused disengagement coping styles moderate the relationship between parent-adolescent conflict and depression among Korean American adolescents; and 3) whether problem-focused engagement, emotion-focused engagement, problem-focused disengagement and emotion-focused disengagement coping styles moderate the relationship between inter-parental conflict and depression among Korean American adolescents.

Methods: The participants were recruited from Korean ethnic churches in the summer of 2014. The study employed a convenience sampling method and the participants had to meet the following eligibility criteria: (1) had at least one parent who immigrated from Korea; (2) reside with at least one parent; (3) maintained contact with both parents; (4) were between 12 and 18 years of age; (5) were able to read and understand English; and (6) resided in New York and New Jersey at the time of investigation. A total of 340 Korean American adolescents were evaluated.  The questionnaire comprised of: 1) demographic information; 2) Asian American Family Conflict Scale (FCS); and 3) Children’s Perception of Inter-parental Conflict scale (CPIC); and 4) Coping Strategies Inventory-Short (CSI).

 Results: After accounting for age and gender, inter-parental conflict, parent-adolescent conflict, and four coping styles explained an additional 38% of the variance in depression (F [8, 327] = 32.026, p < .001). To test the moderation hypotheses multiple regression analysis was conducted. In steps 1 and 2, control variables and all major variables (inter-parental conflict, parent-adolescent conflict, problem-focused engagement, emotion-focused engagement, problem-focused disengagement, and emotion-focused disengagement) were included. In the next step, each interaction term was added to the regression model all at once. Examination of the interaction terms showed that the coefficient for the interaction term emotion-focused disengagement and parent-adolescent conflict was statistically significant (B = .137, p < .01) only in girls.

 Conclusions and Implications: Findings of this study suggest that inter-parental conflict, parent-adolescent conflict, problem-focused disengagement, and emotion-focused disengagement coping styles are risk factors for depression among Korean American adolescents. The moderation analysis suggests a gender difference: the use of emotion-focused disengagement coping style exacerbated the relationship between parent-adolescent conflict and depression among girls but not so among boys.